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International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
Editors: A/Prof John Lidstone, Queensland University of Technology and Prof Joseph P. Stoltman, Western Michigan University
Book Review Editor: Dr Sarah Witham Bednarz, Texas A & M University
Editorial Assistant: Donna Bennett, Australia


Volume: 17  Number: 3  Page: 268–285  doi:10.1080/10382040802168354

Research article
British Columbian Geography in Historical Perspective
Catherine Broom
Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Halifax, Nova Scotia B3M 2J6, Canada

This paper explores how Geography's position in British Columbia (BC), Canada's school social studies curricula has been affected by changes in educational cycles over the twentieth century. The amount of instructional time, the importance assigned to the subject and the content of the subject have varied in accordance with the pre-eminence given to particular philosophies of education, particularly that of progressivism. The alterations described are presented in a chronological narrative and contextualised within historical frames that describe relevant international, national and local educational events. Trends in BC illustrate significant correlations with educational trends in the United States. The paper includes a general theoretical framework through which findings were interpreted. It illustrates how international trends played out in one context that has been open both to reform and to new educational philosophies of international significance.

Keywords: Canadian geography education, curriculum reform, curriculum studies, geography studies, history of education, history of geography education

Copyright © 2008 Taylor & Francis

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